Heart of Fear
by Maverick1595
Summary: Fear is the feeling caused by a moment of danger, which causes a change in metabolism, the function of organs and finally a change in behavior, such as fleeing or freezing from traumatic events. Ember, in a simple task to bring back to Warfang some items, gets caught on a trance manipulated by an unknown entity, making all of her know fears drown her entirely into suffering.
1. Chapter 1

"Okay. With this there's only one more mushroom to find," said a cheery voice directed to absolutely no one.

The owner of that feminine voice was a happy dragoness by the name of Ember, who stored a small blade made for herbalism inside a thin leather bag suspended just above her front legs.

It had been a year since the defeat of the Dark Master known as Malefor by the paws of two legendary dragons who worked together to end his reign of terror, never giving up hope of saving billions of lives. The pink dragoness exploring the jungles outside of the Dragon City was one of many who were thankful for their determination and bravery during the dark years of constant war and suffering, inside and outside her hometown.

Spyro and Cynder were the world heroes who had prevented the innocents from breathing thick and polluted black air from the constant explosions of the war machines commanded by the forces of Malefor.

Instead, they could now breathe clean and peaceful winds that gave hope for a better future, a time of great achievements for all the races of living beings in the world.

And now, the citizens of Warfang were preparing everything for celebrating those new possibilities. It was a big festival in commemoration of victory, of being alive to lead this new age of prosperity.

"I sure hope I get to take a bath after I return to Warfang. These things pack quite the smell," Ember said to herself yet again, cleaning off a concentration of black spores on her claw that had a strong and unpleasant scent.

Every citizen had a job to do on this eventful day. Some were responsible for ordering the ornaments throughout the entire city, which proved to be excruciating work. Others were responsible for venturing outside the walls of Warfang in search of certain materials, in order to make this first celebration perfect in every way possible.

Ember was responsible for bringing back a list of mushrooms and herbs for the moles specialized in the cuisine, and these moles were far from simplistic creatures. They demanded only the most pristine specimen of ingredients for them to work with. All the fruits had to be in the right season to be harvested. All the herbs had to be in top condition to be used. The water had to be crystal clean and the prey freshly caught.

Ember didn't mind the demand and slight arrogance of the moles. The pink dragoness was always willing to help when necessary, especially when it involved her friends that were going to be the center of the festivities, even if they didn't want to be reverenced like semi-gods. Ember just assumed it was another over-exaggeration from her purple friend.

"I don't know why Spyro wouldn't want us to celebrate his victory. Besides, it's a party! Nobody says no to that, especially me," Ember talked to herself with a small chuckle. She raised her paw filled with spores to hold her laugh and almost joined her mouth to the remainings of the mushrooms she had been harvesting for the last hour. Thankfully, she didn't make contact with her claw, but the scent grew stronger on her nostrils.

"Blegh! I should really clean this up…" Ember stuck her tongue out in disgust, the smell so strong it hurt her nostrils.

"Oh, that reminds me... The last item on the list are blue herbs." Ember remembered the list of items given by one of the impatient moles from Warfang preparing the meals for the night.

"Good thing there are still some in the shallow parts of the lake nearby," Ember told herself once again, but this time her happy tone was slightly changed for a bit of concern. With a last shake on her leather bag after storing the mushroom, she opened her bright pink wings and flapped them. In less than a second, she was already on her way to a lake she knew about to finally collect her last item on the list. Feeling the wind on her entire body, she couldn't help but get anxious about the upcoming festival. The bouncy dragoness always loved to party with the friends she held dear to her heart, which also included the heroes of which this festival was centered around.

"Should I get more jewelry? It's been a while since I used that golden tiara…" She was lost in her thoughts as she continued to fly towards the body of water. Her mind kept drifting about the upcoming event when she suddenly remembered her childhood friend.

"Flame sure seemed blown away when I used it for the first time. I still remember his adorable hypnotized face when he said how beautiful I was." She giggled yet again at the memory with a blush forming below her blue eyes.

Flame was a bright red dragon with golden wings and was the same age as Ember. They both grew up together during the attacks of Cynder, back when the same dragoness was known as the Terror of the Skies. They looked after one another, learned how to fight and use their fire breaths quite efficiently when the apes were causing havoc nearby.

They both had unfortunate destinies during the war. Flame and Ember had to grow mentally prematurely thanks to the situation everyone was in during the time. Regardless, they were glued into each other like trees in the ground. They turned out to be good fighters during the grublin invasion in Warfang, defending the other corners of the city at the same time Spyro and Cynder were fighting the Golem. They had small injuries but proved to be capable enough to watch each other's backs and still fight with bravery.

Even with all of this constant combat and the risk of losing the conflict to the Dark Master, Ember never lost her signature bouncy behaviour. She boosted morale even in the worst case scenario.

As much as she desired to admit it, Ember never really wanted to believe Flame had any stronger feelings for her. It was obvious to everyone that the red dragon who grew up with her wanted to impress her and make her smile because of the strong love he felt for the pink dragoness. But something always clicked in her that made her think Flame deserved someone else entirely, or that she didn't want to disappoint him by being someone he didn't know, someone who wasn't the Ember he always thought he knew.

"Maybe I should be more kind to Flame. Every time he comes to talk to me, he's always trying to call me cute and funny. I guess…" Ember's heart weighed heavier inside her chest. She didn't know what to say to Flame. She didn't even know what she felt towards him. Maybe Ember saw him as a brother, or just a friend she considered worth making happy. There was even a chance that she loved him enough to go a level further and start officially dating him. The poor dragoness was so lost on her own feelings towards Flame that she almost missed the lake that was supposed to have the blue herbs she was searching for.

Slowing her speed in mid-air, Ember lowered her position towards the muddy terrain of the lake.

"I'll have time to think about this later." She said in a more guilty tone this time. "Oh Flame, I just hope I don't make you hate me forever. I like you, but… why is it so hard for me to know my own feelings?"

At Warfang, the situations was feverous. Decorations were being placed in every alleyway with purple and black colours to symbolise the legendary duo, and the Guardians made sure to invite everyone from the nearby regions. From the Valley of Avalar to the Swamp where Spyro was raised, everybody was welcome to enjoy their victory over Malefor. The event would still take two days to start, but the citizens were in such a rush, it seemed like it was going to start in less than five minutes.

As for Spyro and Cynder themselves, they were not feeling very comfortable with the knowledge this event was for them in some way. The two young dragons never liked being addressed with worship, and this whole celebration, to them, had to be more centered into victory, not into seeing them as "heroes." Even if they were, they weren't fond of the idea of everyone putting crowns on their heads.

They still helped with the organization regardless.

"Where are we supposed to store these barrels of flour?" asked Spyro, lifting a barrel that was barely double his size and using his wings for advantage.

"Idor said to store them in that deposit house over there," answered Cynder. She too was carrying a barrel of flour the same size and weight that Spyro was. Seeing how she wasn't able to go far with it, Cynder had the idea of using her wind breath to carefully lift the barrel without sweat. She passed her purple companion, looking smugly at him.

"Hey! A little help would be appreciated!" Spyro said with struggle but gave a chuckle at his companion. That wooden barrel was draining his energy, sweat visible on his forehead.

Cynder, however, just laughed at his miserable attempt while she entered the deposit house. The place had only thin rays of sun passing through the cracks of wooden windows for illumination.

The house was pretty small for a place that stores things. It was dusty and filled with all sorts of food and supplies, from spices to grains and fruits. The flour-filled barrel was carefully landed in a spot right next to a big sack of grains by the black dragoness. She ceased her wind breath and looked back at the doorway, waiting for her purple drake to arrive. As he finally showed his tired body with the wooden barrel, his growls and sighs caused Cynder to fight a bitter battle against her own struggles to hold her urge to laugh. Try as she might, she could hold it no longer.

"Must be a treat to have the elements favoring you, huh?" Spyro said between his efforts and huffs. The barrel was almost at its destination and the purple dragon had had enough of the teasing from his black dragoness partner.

"Oh, you're doing fine there, hun," Cynder teased yet again. She always found him cute when he was pretending to be angry. Seeing his adorable face when she teased him in all the possible ways made her smile way too often through the course of one year.

Spyro and Cynder barely had any time to know each other during their quest to end Malefor's tyranny. The world was at the edge of total annihilation, and time was against them

Once it was all over, and both of them had returned to Warfang, they finally had time as friends. The dragons had met many new friends and familiar faces in Dragon City. They had never seen other dragons of their age except for themselves, but ended up meeting a bubbly and cheery pink dragoness by the name of Ember and a red-scaled dragon with a strong desire to prove his worth to everyone named Flame.

In the first week of their glorious return to Warfang, Ember pretty much tackled the purple hero and was screeching for everyone to hear it. Apparently the pink character was quite the fan of Spyro and she just couldn't stop her enthusiastic speech to him, let alone loosen her grasp around his neck. She was also a fan of Cynder in a way, but she sure didn't slam into Cynder.

Thankfully for them, Flame had come along and calmly unwrapped her from Spyro's body, allowing oxygen to enter his lungs. Flame had apologized before introducing himself and her long-time friend to them, but he was still laughing slightly at Spyro's attempt to regain posture. After the awkward first impressions, however, they started sharing histories of their time as freedom fighters of Warfang, shared what was there to do in the city and helped them get used to life in the Dragon City.

It didn't take long for them to end up becoming friends. Every so often they could be seen flying top speed in the skies of the city, walking down the streets and laughing between their conversations. Cynder and Ember even shared secrets like the dates the black flier had had with Spyro the last night.

The most important thing that happened in the post-war era with Spyro and Cynder was their relationship taking a big step forward. Spyro had heard Cynder saying something when they were at the core of the planet, right after he unleashed all of the powers only a purple dragon could wield. His companion who was a major asset on the destruction of Malefor, the one who gave him support through all his journey, said those three magic words and this was the fire that ignited their love.

Both of them became much more comfortable beside each other. Cynder showed her more sympathetic nature to her mate, proving to have a sarcastic sense of humor but also having a kind soul. She was far from being the terror of the skies like everyone believed she was. Thankfully, those thoughts of suspicion were buried in time. Deep down to where the Dark Master was forever trapped. Now Cynder was seen as a hero, a complete opposite of her former self, and both her and Spyro couldn't be more grateful for all the support and kindness they were giving to her.

Even Sparx, the dragonfly who had never given her any break and was constantly crawling on her nerves, was seeing her more like a friend. Even better, he saw her as family.

As for Spyro, he also opened himself up to his lover. All the tension and concern were results of the duty he had as the dragon of legend. But after it was all over, he returned to the same way he was when he lived on a swamp with his family of dragonflies.

He also always made sure to make Cynder laugh. Imitating someone or something, making fun of the guardians or remembering the things he had made as a child. Even if it meant being the target of her sarcasm, which he gladly returned on the same caliber. They weren't just lovers. They were what some may call "best lover friends." And so far, none of them both wanted anything more than that.

Back to the store room, Spyro was gasping for air after finally putting the wooden barrel on its place of destiny. He faced his back to the container full of flour and sat down, relaxing his body on the side of the barrel.

Meanwhile, Cynder looked at her partner and shook her head in disapproval. But Spyro knew too well what was about to come. "So the all high and mighty purple drake can't take on simple pounds of flour?"

Spyro sighed, already familiar with her sharp tongue. He would be lying if he said it didn't make him love this side of her even more, however.

"Yeah, well, at least I take the challenge." Spyro told her with a grin forming on his lips, then closed his eyes and put his right paw on his chest, his face looking up proudly in an attempt to look like one of those theater actors he and Cynder had seen in Warfang. "I, the great purple saviour of this world, will carry as many barrels of flour as I can, and won't rest until every breathing creature can have enough to bake their own desserts. Even if it takes my life!"

Cynder burst out laughing yet again. She was trying her best, but her best was no match for her partner's attempt to be an actor with such a forced accent she didn't even know where it was from.

"Oh yeah? You know what? Fine. You keep on saving everyone's dinner, while _I_ keep waiting for Ember to return. In _my_ house, with _my_ cushions, and a cold drink," was all Cynder responded with between her laugh. She wasn't sure where he kept this side of his for so long, but knew this was more pleasing than the adamant side of him during the conflicts against the grublins.

"Wait one damned second! I didn't finish yet, my assistant!" he continued, still forcing that stupid accent. He held Cynder's paws, forcing her to look at him yet again. She rolled her eyes, but the smile was never worn down.

"Assistant? Oh, for the love of-"

"Even I, the Legendary Purple Baker, can't continue my destiny without my right paw, the best assistant one could ever hope for. This gorgeous silhouette with soft paws who makes my heart melt is the lady that helped me all this time to fulfill the needs of all citizens!" Spyro couldn't stop incorporating the new character he just made up on his head. He didn't care he was acting like an imbecile. As long as Cynder was smiling, he would keep doing it.

"Aw…" Even if that was pretty much a performance from the purple dragon, Cynder knew that those compliments were real as day. "And what can I do to help, oh Legendary Baker?"

"As my assistant, thou shall verify the flour." Spyro was swinging his tongue like a flag on the wind, his mouth full of stereotype in each word he was saying. He proceeded with this fake behavior, taking a big chunk of flour from the barrel with his right paw and presenting it to Cynder.

"What do you see here, my lady?" He was prepared to prank his companion by blowing the flour on the black scales of her face. He was even more anxious when he saw her getting even closer to his paw with a mountain of white fuzz.

Cynder was wearing a confused look, eyeing that big pile of flour like someone trying to understand a map. That was, however, until she had spoken. "What I see…"

With her wind breath charged and her body trembling on the inside with anticipation, she let out a quick breath of wind and the flour flew right onto her lover's eyes. "Is a purple lad in the need of a shower now!" she finished half screaming, letting herself loose on laughter after seeing the shocked expression on Spyro and his paws wiping the white ingredient from his face quickly.

"Is the flour good enough, mister baker?" She kept on laughing and eventually she had landed on the floor with her lungs in dire need for oxygen. "Y-you should… you should see your face, love!"

Spyro was replacing his shocked expression with a more devious one. His face still had small bits of flour on his scales and his evil grin was forming slowly on his face with his eyes aiming at the black figure on the floor regaining her composure. Lowering his head to show more menace, Spyro was watching Cynder like she was prey now, and was walking at a very slow pace in her direction.

"Ha… That was a good one…" At last Cynder's laughter died down, but she was still lying on the floor. Once she raised her sights on Spyro, she saw a different image than the surprised face full of flour from moments ago.

"Uh… Babe? What is it?" She got a small lump on her throat when she laid eyes on her dragon. Putting more strength on her four legs to get up, Cynder was starting to understand what Spyro was planning to do. He had done this way too many times when she was laughing like this - giving her an excuse to laugh even more.

"Come here," Spyro said quietly, increasing his pace his grin becoming even larger.

"No… no!" Cynder was on all fours again and was making a run to the exit door. If only she was faster, Spyro wouldn't have tackled her onto the ground and locked her up with all of his body on her right side. With some bags of rice to soften the fall, Spyro had the perfect opportunity for his revenge.

"I'm gonna give you something to laugh at, lassie," he whispered in her ear. And so, with no place to escape from, Cynder returned to laughing uncontrollably until her eyes began to show tears. Spyro's paws were forcing her sides and he was giving her small but firm scratches, making her whole body tremble like a fish out of the river.

"STO-O-O-O-O-OP!"

It stayed like this for a whole minute.

"Enough… please… I'm gonna… pass out," was all Cynder could say with her oxygen stolen by the deadlock and the tickles from Spyro. She had her tongue hanging from her mouth and she was looking at the ceiling with her eyes half closed. The black dragoness was cursing under her breath for letting Spyro discover the weak spot on her body all those months ago. Ever since then, he would always tease her with this new-found entertainment.

Cynder's vision got a bit blurry thanks to the tears that had formed in her eyes with all the laughter. She cleaned her eyes with her left paw, but this brief moment was enough for Spyro to be on top of her this time. Wearing a kind smile and caring eyes, he surprised Cynder with his quick maneuver. He lowered the upper half of his body so that it made full contact with her curves.

Cynder welcomed his actions by purring with her head below his chin. She always felt so relaxed when feeling his muscles pressed on her like a blanket made from the best wool in the world. The heat from his body, the beat of his heart. Everything she could feel when embracing him made her feel like she was resting on the clouds. She never thought she would feel like this before. With another dragon was even more impossible to her. But there she was, enjoying every single moment with her beloved dragon. Hugging him and moaning with satisfaction.

"You're such a misbehaved boy," she said calmly giving him some small taps on his shoulder, as if she was just waking up.

Spyro was eye to eye with her now, both smiling with passion.

"And you are quite the cheater, lassie," he whispered back in the same tone.

The heat was increasing inside the storage house. The two lovebirds where radiating heat like a star, and it only got hotter when the dragons pressed their lips on each other.

Moans and sighs were all the sounds coming from the storage house. Spyro and Cynder had their entire bodies pressed on one another and their paws were firmly holding their partner's back. They always found time to share their love even during tasks, and none of them gave much mind if someone could see them. They wanted to enjoy every bit possible of peace.

It didn't take long, however, for their passion to be interrupted with a swing of the door and a gasp from the outside.

"Oh, for the love of-"

Spyro and Cynder broke their kiss, but still had their passion-filled expressions when they looked in the direction of the new open door that led to the outside world. There stood a red figure with golden wings and horns with no curves whatsoever. Flame slapped his forehead with his paw at the sight of his friends making out on the bags of rice that were supposed to be used on the celebration that week.

"Note to self: keep away from the rice," Flame murmured loud enough so the other two dragons could hear it. He moved inside the building with a basket held on his arm and inside there was a big quantity of vanilla flowers. Flame deposited the basket on the ground but made sure it was bent towards the wall so the flowers wouldn't fall.

Spyro and Cynder were already on the normal stand when Flame turned towards them. "At this rate, you're gonna contaminate everything," the red drake said with a huff coming out of his nostrils. "I'm surprised all of this lustrous adventure didn't end up on pregnancy yet."

"Oh? And where are you and Ember's _mis_adventures gonna lead you, sir?" Spyro asked with eminent sarcasm in his tone and a frown formed on his forehead, getting Cynder to quickly look elsewhere, her sudden movement clearly indicating that Spyro was throwing salt on a wound. "Cuz so far, all I see is that it's gonna lead to the line proceeding and you with a broken heart."

"Yeah, ha-ha. It's not like I've been trying to bleed my freaking heart out for her for the last decade." Flame shot back with a mix of annoyance and sarcasm. It was true. Flame had been building his guts in order to confess to Ember his true feelings for a very long time. He wasn't sure what her reactions meant, however. She would either laugh it off, call him cute or give him a peck on the cheek, but never officially respond to him if she felt the same way or not. As if she was enjoying delaying it as much as possible.

"Come on, Flame. Don't be so hard on yourself. You just need to man up and straight up tell her," Cynder told him, seeing how frustrated his face was now. She gave him a confident smile to show she wasn't being sarcastic this time.

"I don't know anymore." Flame sighed and looked down, sadness starting to build up in his voice. "Why am I even continuing like this? I feel like I'm losing my time like an imbecile, following her like a cub and always breaking my face in the end."

None of the other two dragons had ever heard Flame speaking like this before. Spyro even felt sorry for what he had just said. It's true he had been trying to confess to her ever since they first met them a year ago, and that he told them he had been trying in a vain way before that. That would make anyone's patience run thin.

As a close friend of Ember, Cynder knew she never wanted to cause him any harm. She even asked her what the pink female felt for Flame. Ember told her how she wasn't sure how to tell him that she was afraid of not being what he expected or that she didn't know what she truly felt for him. However, Ember had told her that Flame was attractive in a lot of ways.

It was with this thought that Cynder decided to break the girls code and tell him this one thing to make him feel better. It wasn't right to tell him secrets, but the poor guy deserved it.

"Hey Flame." Cynder began after an awkward silence, her smile still sympathetic. "I shouldn't be telling you this, but Ember said to me she finds you really attractive."

Flame wasn't ready for this comment. He lifted his head again to look at Cynder and he saw her winking.

"Is this true or are you just saying that to make me feel better?" The red flyer asked, his surprised look still pretty evident.

"It is true, silly." Cynder chuckled at the sight of him. "It was two months ago, I think. She told me how your eyes are pretty, your body is well-built…"

She proceeded to tell him everything she could remember about that conversation she had with his crush. She then finished by telling him something she remembered that made her give a devilish chuckle at Ember in that day. She put on her most lustful face and talked like she was teasing her boyfriend yet again. "And to top it all off, she said you have a nice flank."

If his burning cheeks couldn't be seen before, now all of his face was hot-pink. Was Cynder really telling him the truth? Should he stop being so defensive and jet towards the offensive? He attempted to hide his burning face from both of them, but even a smile was pulling at his lips without him realising it.

This time, it was Spyro who spoke "I have to agree with her on that part." He said biting his lips and eyeing Flame's lower body.

When Flame heard this sentence coming out from his purple friend, his eyes went so wide that his pupils almost disappeared looking at him.

"The fuck!?" Flame jolted backwards, hiding his flank with his wings and looking rather scared at the purple dragon giving him hungry looks.

"Hey dude, relax! I'm just messing with you," he explained immediately afterwards, but it was impossible for him to hold onto his urge to laugh. "But really now. Cynder just told you all of that. The chances are all in your favor. Go get her, tiger."

"I… W-what if she says no? All of this would be for nothing…" Flame said slightly sad this time, but not on the same level as before.

"Seriously, Flame. Didn't you just listen to what Cynder said?" The purple dragon was determined to give Flame his much-needed confidence. He moved over Flame and grabbed his shoulder, giving it a small shake in order to make the red dragon face him. "If you don't, someone else will take your place. Is that what you want?"

"No," Flame said, much more firmly than expected.

"Okay, fine. I'm gonna tell her today. Right after she returns." Like a swing of a magic shaft, Flame was adamant and sturdy. Ember was going to hear everything whether she liked it or not. His nervousness eventually pinched his stomach, but his confidence took care of it and he was ready for anything.

"Now we're talking." Cynder affirmed in a louder tone like a leader. "You go there and don't hold back anything."

All Flame did was nod his head with determination. Everything was already planned in his head on how he was going to do it. It had to work this time. It would work!

"Speaking of which, shouldn't Ember be back by now?" Spyro turned his head to look at Cynder, who shrugged at the question made by him.

"Strange... Where could she be?"

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

Ember was sitting right at the edge of the shimmering water from the lake known to have plenty of blue-colored herbs, only to find there were no herbs whatsoever in any place she could grasp. It wasn't totally true, though. There were indeed herbs, but inside the lake. They weren't that deep inside the water for a dragon of her age to have a struggle trying to take them.

"This is a joke… It has to be!"

Ember had her heart pounding her ribs from the inside like a hammer, her veins cold like ice. Her whole body was shaking like an abandoned hatchling lost during winter.

The reason Ember was so frightened to dive and get the herb was one that she kept to herself forever. Not a single living creature knew of the condition the pink dragoness had had for a really long time that made every fiber of her body get tense whenever she got near a deep body of water.

She was afraid of water. Or scientifically speaking, she had hydrophobia.

Whenever she was invited for an event or just to hang out with friends that involved pools, lakes, rivers or the ocean, she always found an excuse to not make a presence there or at least keep far away from the water. Nobody seemed to mind those decisions made by her. They all assumed she just didn't like swimming and it stayed that way forever.

And now here she was with a task impossible for her to complete. Just how exactly was she going to do this? Her fire breath sure wouldn't help her in any way. Now that she thought about it, no other element besides water could help her right now, seeing how water dragons had the unique ability to breathe underwater. It wasn't even that deep. Just a small stretch of her hind legs with her head still on the surface was sufficient to grab the herb. For Ember, however, this was out of the question. She would likely pass out just by floating on the lake.

"Should I just say I couldn't find these herbs? They could send another person to grab these… Oh crap." She was pacing back and forward with her eyes facing the dirt.

"I can just say there simply are no blue herbs anymore. Or maybe…" Ember paused her frantic walk when she took a quick glimpse at a big wooden branch next to a bush, giving her an idea "...Maybe I can use that to take the herbs off the ground and make them float."

"Thank the Ancestors for you, mister branch," she said with a nervous chuckle. All she had to do was maneuver the big wooden branch while flying above the lake, circling the piece of wood around the blue plant until it was disconnected from the dirt.

The branch was a little heavy, but Ember managed to get it with ease. She was flapping her wings to maintain a steady frame on the right spot. The circle was made and there were enough herbs inside it. Ember had to force the wood like a lever to make the herbs start to float, and so they did. Doing that, however, made her hind legs and tail go inside the water, making her heart almost burst into a frenzy of adrenaline. She screamed and bolted her way to the dry land, letting her branch sink on the lake, forever out of her reach as she watched in disbelief at her only chance at getting the herbs gone.

She was relieved to find the herbs floating on the surface, though. Her heart coming to a peaceful beat now and the adrenaline felt before was now gone.

"I should really tell everyone about my fear. That way they won't send me looking for these things the next time," Ember said to herself. She took flight yet again and grabbed the floating herbs from the water, shuffling them on her bag.

"Seriously, what exactly do they need these for? I've never heard of any food made with such a thing…" The pink female drake was ready to flap her wings back to Warfang when she noticed something she was sure wasn't there before. It was a shack that seemed abandoned for years. "Huh? Where did that come from?"

The shack was just some feet away from the lake, surrounded by trees and rocks. The roof was made of straws and had big holes in it. The first thing Ember thought was that it was a place used to store goods from a tribe of cheetahs. But even so, if it belonged to someone, it wouldn't have looked that dirty and abandoned.

Curiosity took the best of Ember and she walked to the place that made her mind twitch with anticipation. She really should've been returning to the Dragon City; however, the place was hooking her like small defenseless prey, almost like something was calling her.

She stood at the entrance of the shack, her eyes almost in a trance and her mouth open as if she was trapped in hypnosis. The door was missing and the inside had nothing besides a thin wooden table.

Ember entered the shack. Whatever the thing calling her there was, she was about to find out. She even completely forgot about her task and even forgot the bag of mushrooms and herbs she was carrying.

Now Ember really was in a trance - her mouth drooled when she was inside of the shack.

And now, it was only her and a table in a dirty shack.

She had no idea of what was about to happen for the next hours.


	2. Chapter 2

A loud noise was heard behind Ember, making her trance vanish. She didn't flinch at the sudden movement of the door, slamming back and closing the shack to the outside world however; all she did was blink a few times and stare in confusion at her surroundings while her mind slowly regained control to analyze her situation, and the situation wasn't at all on her favor.

Ember would be lying to herself if she said she wasn't scared after inexplicably getting trapped Ancestors know when. A minute ago she was ready to head home after a successful, if not humiliating, section of herbalism. Now she was inside a wooden shack almost not big enough for her body; full of questions as to how and why she ended up there. The pink dragoness was feeling sick, a headache and a fever building up, and fear was making her chest inhale and exhale air at an alarming rate.

"H-hello? Anyone?" Her scales went cold when she heard taps on the walls coming from the outside.

Ember now was sure that entering this place was the worst mistake she had made. Even as an excellent fighter and knowing how to use her elemental breath like a true contender for fire guardian, she couldn't get on a fighting stance and intimidate whoever is behind this awful prank. Instead, her position was one of fright as the taps got closer to the door, sounding like needles scratching the wooden surface of the walls.

"...I'm gonna blast your face off!" Ember tried to sound intimidating, but the fear could also be heard in her words.

The worst scenarios were passing on her head: Someone wanting to kidnap her and sell her organs to the black market, enslave her, become the new toy of sadistic perverts or even practice the cruelest of scientific experiments. She heard so many stories of cases like this that the thought alone of that happening to her made her stomach twist.

The scratch of needles finally reached the doorway. The sound was getting acute and lower like if it was trying to pierce through the door; and then it stopped.

Ember still had ice coursing inside her veins and the silence never felt so loud on her ears. She didn't want to open that door, but also wanted to get out of there and fly away as fast as her wings could allow to any place away from this shack. Her breathing was shaky and her heartbeat could be heard even from outside the shack. The poor female was begging for this sensation to go away. Begging for this horrible dream to stop. But it wouldn't.

_**BLAM!**_

Ember screamed in terror with the door swinging open so violently that it seemed to have broken a little in the upper border.

She couldn't take it. Ember thought she was gonna pass out from shock. She tried to ease the pain in her chest caused by her heart slamming her ribcage with a massaging paw on the area; but wasn't successful.

However, the door was open now, she could finally escape this hell she entered; but her gut was telling her otherwise. She knew this could be a trap; someone could be waiting for her to go outside and capture her.

Even the outside world looked completely different. It was too bright outside, like if the sun was way too close to Earth and was about to swallow the planet with flames. Ember forced her vision but got no glimpse at the once beautiful forest she was exploring before entering this hellish place.

What even was that place?

She must do this fast.

And so, like a pink arrow piercing the air, Ember flew with the heaviest wing-beat she could perform. Her eyes shut tight with fear and anxiety as freedom was already in her paws. The dragoness didn't care if she was gonna hit a tree on her blind escape from the shack, all of her desires were centered on getting as far away as possible, no matter where she was heading.

Her wings were burning with fatigue. Ember was panting hard by the time she got comfortable enough to stop her wings and land on the ground. She had many questions racing through her mind: Who did this to her? Why did she get so scared? What was causing that noise on the wooden wall? How she didn't hit any obstacle?

Why did the outside look so different from before she entered that place?

Taking a moment to finally open her eyes to look at her surroundings, Ember came to the sad conclusion that the vivid green forest she was flying by moments ago was now completely devoid of any form of life. All of the trees with no exception were dry, burned, or cut down. The terrain was resembling a wasteland with thick and hot air that could burn her throat if she stayed there for too long. There was no life, there was no lake, no shack; nothing.

The atmosphere made Ember wish she had never exited that shack. This was much worse than being locked up in a small room.

"Wh… Where? Why?! What is going on?" Ember was desperate to find answers to such severe unanswered questions. Her world was gone, everything she knew and loved was dead.

Ember was really close to snap. She wished to all the ancestors for this to be nothing more than a bad dream. Yes! she might have fallen asleep after so much work done. So now all she has to do is wake up, return to Warfang, and forget this nightmare had ever happened.

"Okay… Okay... Time to wake up!"

The loss of sanity was imminent in her hyperventilated voice.

Ember began by pinching herself in the chest and neck, with no results other than red marks on her scales. With desperation increasing faster than fire on a dry forest; she started to cut her scales with her own claws. The pain was horrible for the poor dragoness; but the only thing bigger than that was the fear she was feeling.

No matter what she tried; Ember couldn't wake up. Her eyes were wider than any breathing creature could manage to get, with an alarming quantity of tears forming, and even her nostrils were pouring liquid. Her ribcage was hurting like stones trying to rip her open from inside thanks to her heartbeat.

Ember wanted to scream, she wanted to cry until there was no air inside her so that someone, anyone could listen.

The eyes of the pink reptile were watching her claws with dirt and her own blood on them. It was then that she moved her paws to inspect them when she heard a metallic noise coming from the spot where her paw was on. Cleaning the place from the dirt, Ember discovered the source of that noise; it was a chain. Judging by the rust in the material, it was safe to say that that chain had been there for a long while now, although the dragoness wasn't ready to see what was holding the other end of the chain.

Ember followed the rusty chain until the far end of it; what she found the chain curled over was the spark to ignite the giant barrel of powder begging to burst on Ember's head. She saw the remains of a dragon's leg with big chunks of flesh missing from it; flies feeding off the exposed flesh and blood.

The scene was so gruesome that the shock Ember had felt a while ago returned with vengeance. The dragoness had finally reached her limit and she couldn't take it. First she got stuck on a shack with someone outside wanting to hurt her or worse, then she exited just to find the entire world absent of any life, and now she was looking at a decapitated red dragon's leg with flies swarming it. Ember was sky-rocketing into insanity at such a high speed that her brain couldn't follow it anymore, making her pass out after trembling her entire body, her pupils to little black dots with the most horrified face she had ever wielded.

Now there she was, a pink stain in the huge desert cooking in the sun, and there she stood waiting for destiny to choose if she lives or dies from dehydration in the scorching sand.

Hours have passed and Ember was still lying untouched on the ground. The sun was in its last moments of the day but it was still burning like lava on the Earth. Not even the strong odor coming from the mutilated member next to her made her wake up.

_Several months ago_

"So, you both pretty much got to the core of the planet and trapped Malefor in it?" Asked a very curious Ember, in awe at the legendary duo telling her and Flame about their journey to stop the Dark Master, after contant demand from the pink lady.

"We defeated him alright, but we weren't the ones who got him trapped there." Answered Cynder with her right eyebrow going up in slight curiosity from this pink girl she knew almost nothing about, besides the awkward first impression they had some weeks ago when both her and Spyro returned to Warfang.

Regardless of her lack of intimacy with Ember, Cynder was slowly building a liking to her hyperactiveness and happiness, two things Cynder never got to experience much besides her time forcing her brain to listen to the neverending walking dictionary known as Volteer. She was constantly asking herself if one of her parents had electricity as their element for her to be an unlimited source of blabbering energy.

"Oh, who was it then? Oh, oh, was it the Ancestors? Or maybe the Chronicler? Oh! Maybe it was all the other purple dragons before Spyro!" The pink dragoness exclaimed.

Ember's neverending enthusiasm mixed with her ideas of who those spirits that trapped Malefor were made the pair of heroes eye each other in shock and confusion. Whatever her deal was, Ember surely was giving them reasons to feel a small discomforting dread.

"Uh… we're not sure…" Spyro said with his claws scratching the back of his head.

"Don't even try to understand it," The red dragon named Flame sighed to himself in boredom with his chin resting on the wooden table. "I gave up years ago."

"Come on, Flame, why aren't you as excited as I am? Hanging out with these two of all dragons for lunch is so amazing!"

Ember really couldn't stop the burning desire to know more about the pair of heroes who were sharing a table with her, regardless if said pair didn't have in their intentions going through a run down over their whole lives and going over step-by-step on their adventures to defeat Malefor.

"I thought you had said this was a date…" Flame grumbled with gritted teeth.

He didn't care if they all heard his words. The red drake was clearly annoyed by something, and the desire to say his farewells and return home was bulging inside his skull.

"Huh?" Ember had heard the annoyed tone being shot out from Flame's mouth like heavy stones on the mud, but couldn't make out the words he had said thanks to her constant talking and excitement that now was cut down.

The same could not be said about Spyro and Cynder who could have made out part of his words, and they both knew what was troubling the red dragon.

Flame was angry because his friend, Ember, was preferring talking with her idols rather than him. He probably invited her for a time only for them both to enjoy. Both dragons being interviewed by Ember had a small but considerable amount of guilt in their gut.

"...And then me and Flame were told to guard the city while you guys were fighting The Destroyer, which was-" The pink flyer continued on her rambling despite what Flame had just said, that was until Cynder decided to act before her friend let all his frustration out on her.

"Hey, hey, Ember!" Cynder shouted out louder than necessary, getting confused glances from other customers around the group.

"Look, it's nice talking to you and you're real sweet for saying all those nice things about me and Spyro and all, but… aren't you supposed to be having fun with your friend?"

"What?" with a raise in her eyebrow, Ember looked at Flame and back at the other two dragons. "But we are having fun. Flame said he wanted to go for a walk and asked if I could come with him. I just accepted it and ended up seeing you guys."

Spyro heard her answer and almost immediately looked away with his claws touching his forehead.

"Cynder… Our order is taking too long don't you think?" Spyro said to his partner with a yellow smile, suggesting them both to leave the other fire-breathing dragons with a bit of privacy to sort things out.

"Y-Yeah… Let's uh… see what happened. We'll be back in a bit." Cynder gestured to Ember before both her and Spyro left the table in a bit of a rush.

And now there were only a very energetic Ember and a frustrated Flame left. Flame took the opportunity to finally express himself to Ember properly. What the pink drakeness wasn't expecting, however, was the expression of anger and sadness printed all over Flame's face.

"Why are you doing this?" Flame asked.

Something was very disturbing about his voice. It sounded more like whispering. loud enough for her to listen, however Ember heard it like a wind current coming straight out of Malefor's temple, and it made the female very uncomfortable.

The cheerfulness of the pink one evaporated like soft sand in the wind, and now she was worried. She could see it clear as day now that Flame was hurt. The thing she feared the most was seeing her beloved ones hurt, be that physically or mentally.

"Flame? what happened?" The dragoness landed her right paw on his chest to try comforting his heartache.

By this point, all of Flame's hate was substituted for sorrow. There was moisture forming on his eyes but he fought it back as hard as he could.

He couldn't get angry at Ember. Even if he wanted to, Flame would never have the heart to do it. So instead, the red dragon explained in the most polite yet sad way to his friend what was causing his chest to get tight.

"For a moment… I thought you actually meant wanting to go out with me on a real date. I was happy…" Flame was looking down all the time while giving his explanation in a depressive tone. "... But then it turns out it's yet another section of hanging out like friends. It's not that I don't like it… I just…"

Ember sighed. She was familiar with this situation involving Flame. She knew how deeply in love with her he was and how much he wanted to be her mate. Ember was so reluctant about this idea, but it was hurtful to watch the dragon she considered a brother getting heartbroken like that. What she feared the most involving a relationship with Flame was that she would end up being not the perfect fantasy Flame dreamed about, that she would become a disappointment to him and that would make him a mess of depression.

She believed there was someone better than her that would actually make him happier.

"Flame, we already talked about this." Ember explained, raising his chin to make his eyes meet hers. "We can't be mates. I'm not your perfect future and you'll just end up hitting a wall when you realise it. Please, Flame. Don't hurt yourself like that."

Flame closed his eyes and just let her words circle around in his mind. The same response every time he tried to convince her. It was making more harm to him than he could imagine.

It's not like he haven't tried to move on. He was glued to Ember and no matter what he did to forget about this so called 'fantasy,' he couldn't. His life without the dragoness of his life was a world without life.

"Fine…" That was Flame's final word before getting up in all fours and turn his back on the establishment and his long time friend. His head hanging low and chest getting tighter. Every time it was the same thing. Every single time he tried to confess himself, it only ended like this.

Ember herself hated seeing him like that. She was worried, but mostly sad for having to give such explanations to him time and time again. The dragoness watched him go toward the horizon of Warfang and reached her paw towards him.

"You're not gonna eat?" Ember called for him, however the response she got only served for her conscience to weight on her even more.

"I lost my appetite. Have fun with them"

Spyro and Cynder, who were watching it from inside the establishment, being very careful not to listen to any words they were saying, returned to their table to find a very disheartened pink dragoness. Whatever happened while they were 'gone,' didn't end well at all.

"Ember… Is everything okay?" Asked Spyro.

Ember responded by closing her eyes and moving her head down. She had to do something or else Flame would just drown himself even more in constant pain.

"Guys… can I ask you something?" Ember finally had spoken after a minute of silence.

"Of course, Ember. What do you wanna ask?" Cynder said, her voice soft and caring for the pink dragoness.

"How do you tell someone who loves you that you're not the best mate he can have?"

_Current days_

The blazing sun was gone and the cool breeze of the night came. Ember was slowly regaining consciousness but was feeling a weird sensation as her body was shaking from side to side, and her blood was entirely concentrated on her brain. She opened her eyes just a little bit to look at her surroundings, and what followed was an expression of true horror.

She was being carried by two dragon figures wearing some kind of armor that covered almost all of their scales. Her paws were chained by a log, making her body go upside down, and her wings were tightly tied together, putting a heavy strain on them. Whoever locked her wings like that, did so with the intention of hurting her.

She desperately tried to shake her body even harder to try and break free of her bondage, however those chains were something much different than any ordinary chain. These chains had really sharp razors that could cut a dragon's scales like paper, making any unfortunate soul who tried to escape suffer an excruciating pain. The more she shook, the more her paws were hurt and blood eventually leaked from her legs.

Ember whimpered in an acute tone and stopped moving her body, seeing how this was resulting in nothing more than her soft paws getting chewed by sharp blades on chains. She concentrated her elemental energy to breath fire on those strangers that were carrying her, and yet again she was met with disappointment; her elemental magic was completely drained out and all she could emit out of her muzzle was a small puff of smoke.

There was nothing she could do.

Ember began to look around to get an idea of where she was. The dragoness saw buildings and more armored dragons with the same set of armor of the ones carrying her. The pink fire-breather also saw plenty of ruins in some areas, as if a conflict had happened recently. Ember proceeded on examining her surroundings even with the vision upside down and made a worrying conclusion after seeing a plaza that was well known by her that she was in Warfang, but not the prosperous Warfang that everybody knew.

Ember began to feel her guts swirling around as yet again the worst possible thoughts began racing on her mind about her friends. What happened to them? Was Spyro and Cynder defeated by… these dragons? Oh Ancestors, what about Flame? What did they do to him?

It seemed like the entire city was transformed into a fortress of Malefor. There were banners with a symbol on it - a red dragon soaring through a dagger pointing down and surrounded by two other dragons flying upwards in a spiral - and those soldiers, they were everywhere. None of them moved an inch and the civilians walked around with dread in their eyes. Whoever these dragons are, they can put fear in anyone without even moving.

The worst was yet to come.

Ember was on the verge of a mental collapse already, but what she witnessed in the plaza where Flame used to play with her when hatchlings, was a catatonic overload of despair. Taking place right in the middle of the square was a huge wooden platform with chains hanging from another piece of metal suspended above the platform. The chains were connected forming a lasso and some of the armored soldiers were moving dragons who looked extremely bruised to those chains.

Ember couldn't believe the cruelty of these dragons. The victims had their wings tied to their bodies so they couldn't fly away and all of them looked terrified. Their faces begging for mercy but the armored dragons didn't even flinch at their supplications, as if those armors were empty husks being controlled by something or someone.

One by one, the soldiers wear the chains around each condemned neck. Ember could even make out the figure of a hatchling who wasn't even half of her age, while the executioner waited in the far left of the platform. The dragon who was going to take those lives was massive. He had his own set of armor, unique to someone as big as he was. His wings could almost reach both sides of the wooden area he was in and his paws could squash a dragon's head without much trouble.

After each dragon had their necks surrounded by the black chains, another group of soldiers - each carrying massive steel spheres - tied those heavy objects on the rear legs of the dragons.

Ember could hear loud faints and sobbings from them. The earth hatchling Ember was watching didn't have a clue of what was going on, but he was a wrack of nervousness - eyeing from left to right and breathing faster than a rat who just escaped its prey. It was clear that the young dragon didn't know he was going to meet the Ancestors just in a couple of minutes, but in the most painful way possible.

It was all ready. The executioner flapped his enormous wings, making dust and leaves go away, and then he grabbed the metal bar with the chains and began to go higher. In less than a minute, all the dragons being hanged had their lives sucked away. The blood had its access to their heads denied as the chains, together with the heavy maces on their legs pulling them down, were slowly taking their spirits away.

Once again, Ember continued to shake violently her body, and this time she began to scream for the whole city to hear. Witnessing those dragons hanged, especially that hatchling, made her go on a frenzy. Her throat was burning with her screaming and her legs had even more blood leaking.

A dragon nearby was approaching her with a sword after hearing her alarming screams, and with the sword handle, he gave a strong blow on her forehead, forcing her to shut up and her vision to go blurry. The guard then grabbed Ember's head and made her face him in a rude and violent way.

"Listen here, hatchling, I don't care how young you are, but if you continue to scream like that…" The soldier then raised his sword to her bloody paws below the chain and made a small cut on it, making Ember gasp in fear. "I'm gonna cut your paws one by one and feed it to the creatures outside of Warfang."

"No, no, no, no, no, please!" Ember begged for the armored dragon. Her tone growing in despair feeling the sword slowly sawing her leg.

The guard on the other hand gave a malicious chuckle watching this small pink dragoness begging for him not to amputate her member. He removed his weapon from her wound before asking one of the dragons who was carrying her who she was.

"According to the King, she's the one responsible for the prison break from yesterday. As per usual, none of them managed to get away." The dragon said, pointing his head to the gallows.

"She didn't manage to go far though, ever since the King ordered the entire region to be taken away from all it's resources, it became impossible for anyone to survive out there."

"WHAT!?" Ember shouted in utter disbelief.

Prison break? Region without resources? Even if she inspected every second of her past, she had zero success in finding out this was the world she lived on. All of her childhood, her training, the peace that it came after the grublin invasion of her hometown. None of this included any deserted wasteland and a totalitarian government in her memories. She started to believe something dragged her to this neverending nightmare, and she wanted to know what it was and why they did this.

However, and this was the scariest of her thoughts, a small part of her was starting to believe this was the world she had always lived in. She couldn't say exactly how, but for her to be known as the responsible for those dragons being killed and that she was in the same prison as them fuelled this theory in her head.

And now, instead of being killed the same way the others were, she was being transferred to some place else.

"I don't know anything about any prison! I don't even know what happened here!" Ember desperately told the guards. Her body was visibly shaking from head to toe with dread consuming her from within. Tears forming and blurring her vision and sobs could be heard coming from the bruised pink drakeness.

"Please… l-let me go…"

"Even if we wanted to let you go, it is not up to us." The other dragon who was dragging her in her front told her. He was much more calm than the other two aggressive soldiers. "The King will decide your fate."

Ember once again shut her eyes, wanting to go back to reality without these monsters ruining the place she holds dear to her heart. The dragoness didn't even want to know what this so-called 'King' did to her friends.

"Between you and me, those prison friends of yours who got hanged had it easier than you will have with the King's decision. He and his Queen are the most merciless dragons known to dragonkind."

The dragons continued to the King's palace, carrying Ember who was a sobbing mess at this point.

"P-please… I didn't do anything… let me go… let me… go..."


End file.
